Rise April Art Challenge - Blog Posts

Rise April Rap Up

So, I have entered my final submission for Rise April. That being 24: Rebirth 

Thank you for all the love you have given me! It means so much to me and has encouraged me to try my hand at a larger Rise fic. We’ll see how that goes.

Thank you @zee-rambles for hosting this challenge, giving me a place to share my writing, and encouraging me to fight for Rise. 

Thank the rest of you for giving me your time and love. I hope that I can continue to write for you all and improve.

Please go look at @rise-april-art-challenge for more submissions from other creators.

@nickelodeon Save Rise

Rise April Challenge 24: Rebirth

Prev - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here

The yellow of the setting sun was painted over by the swirling pink of the hole in the sky. The wind whistled past Leo's ear as he listened to the young voice coming from his comm.  

“Just tell me when you’re home free, and I’ll pull the plug!”

Casey’s voice rang in his ears as he looked up at the hulking steal encased monster and the endless void of suffering just on the other side of the gate, marching towards him. Towards the city. Towards the world.

Towards his family.  

Maybe that shouldn’t be as high on his list. Maybe a real hero would do this for the world. But Leo isn’t a hero. Leo is selfish, arrogant, and a screw up.

But if there's one thing that Leo could consider good about himself, it was this: he was loyal and he loved his family more than anything. So, screw it.

“Casey, listen to me.” He says, not taking his eyes off the Krang. “When I get to the other side, you close that door.”  

He knows what he’s asking from the kid. Knows he is asking him to pull the trigger, to kill him. Leo knows he could have lied, could have told him to close it without telling him that he was still on the other side. But Casey shouldn’t have to live with the guilt of thinking that it was an accident, that Leo had a chance of making it out and Casey somehow screwed it up. He deserves to know that it was Leo’s choice. That there was no other way out.

“What? Sensei, no!”

Leo tunes out his response, his explanation, to focus on the enemy in front of him. He knows the way it will go, knows the words.

It feels like he’s already said them a thousand times.

Raph’s panicked voice brakes through his concentration. He’s begging, pleading, trying to reject what is happening, to demand and hold all of existence down so that is has no choice but to compile.

Leo did the same when he was dragged away by the escape pod.

He says something, a joke he forgets before it’s even out of his mouth. What he’s really saying is “I know this hurts. I know you’ll hate yourself for this. But you’ll live. You’ll be ok after a while. And that’s all I want.”

He stares at the end of everything he loves, and, with his body and mind collapsing inwards on itself like a dying star, he brings forward his Ninpō and rases his blades.

It’s a pitiful fight that’s over before it starts. But he feels his first blade in the void of the prison behind him and digs the one in his hand into foot pining him down.

“What you fail to understand is I missed on purpose.”

His Ninpō flared and he teleported deep into the prison.

In the moments between the disappearance and reappearance, Leo could swear that he could feel the weight of thousands of despairing eyes burn into his soul.  

The Krang tried to fight him, tried to run back towards the open doorway, and Leo knew he couldn’t keep him there for long.

“Casey, please.” He pleaded.

This is a plea that he knows, one that sings in his blood. Hamatos have always been forced to sacrifice everything for their family, for the world. And they always died the same way: begging their loved ones to understand. To forgive them for not coming home.

The portal closes, the Technodome explodes.

Leo let’s go of his hold and waits for death.  

-

Mikey opens a portal and saves him. He comes home.

But Leo is still waiting for death.  

He sits in his med bay cot and listens to the beeps of his heart monitor and waits for it to stop. He feels each breath and waits for it to be cut off.

Nothing happens.

It doesn’t feel real. He thinks back to when the Krang’s anger was trying to crush him, when it rained hits down to try and crack open his shell and rip apart whatever was inside.

He hadn’t been alone. He could feel them, watery eyes that watched with despair, hands that reached out and tried to hold him, voices that thanked him and whispered to him that “Anata wa hitori ja nai.”  

As he hugged the photo of his family to his chest and smiled, he felt a sense of familiarity well up in him. As if he had already done this 1000 times over. But it wasn't him, no, it was spirits that gathered around him. That could do nothing but reach out for him as he waited to die.

Leo wonders how many of his family sacrificed themselves for the ones they loved, how many died for some cause. How many deaths did it take to carve the knowledge of sacrifice into a bloodline?

But Leo hadn't died.  

He began to cry. He let the tears flow freely and he cried. Because even if his heart had never stopped beating, he still felt like he had died. Like whoever he was had disappeared into that dimension and left him a broken body to return to his family.

But that wasn’t true, he was alive. Scared and beaten and broken, but alive.

Why? Why him?

Out of everyone, out of all the souls that had reached out and shared his pain, why was he the one to come back home?  

What had he done to be brought back while they were mourned?  

No one answered.

After a minute Donnie would walk in on Leo still crying. He would grow stiff and reach out and grab his hand. Leo would cling to it and sob that he was sorry that he hadn’t listened to them, that he had put them in danger for his ego, that he had almost made them lose him.

Donnie would just cling right back and soon began to cry in turn, begging Leo to never do that again. To always be safe and with them, and Leo agreed.

Thus, Leo returned to life not with fire and ash but with tears and sobs. Nothing would be the same, nothing would be the way it was before, but they would always love each other and nothing else mattered.

Prev - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. Please give me feedback if there is anything I should work on.\

@nickelodeon Bring Back Rise

Rise April Challenge 23: Spooky

Prev - Next - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here (Not my finest work, but it's okay. I like writing horror, but I didn't want to lean too heavily into that, so here.)

Flint lives in New York, has for many years now, he’s seen some weird stuff. That means that he rarely gets surprised any more. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t get scared.

He had been scouting out an abandoned sewar tunnel for a few weeks now. It seems that’s out of view most security cameras and he hadn’t seen anyone else using it for... unsavory business. So, Flint thought it would be a good place to do some not exactly legal art.

The tunnel was dark and smelt of old rainwater, the kind of water was tainted with the oils and gases of the city and dragged them down through storm drains, but there wasn't the smell of sewage and that was good enough for Flint.

He flicked on his flashlight and walked deeper in, the sound of his footsteps bouncing endlessly into the darkness. The light from the entrance was soon gone, leaving Flint only with the pale artificial light in his hand. The air was still, and the young vandal felt the clinging, dusty cold that came with being encased underground. It felt like the tunnel was holding its breath, staring out at him with wide unseen eyes.  

An image entered Flint’s mind of a tall, slim, shadowy figure, just a step or two behind him. Following. Waiting. He could see the way it glided forward, soundlessly so as not to alert its victim. He could see the way the darkness was stuffed and shoved into an into a tall, bulging, shape that could almost be a man. And Flint could see the way its long slim fingers reached out to grab his head and yank it straight off his-

He whipped around and shined the light right where the things face would be.  

There was nothing there.

Of course not. He was just creeped out from being in a dark tunnel alone. It was normal that his imagination acted up. Flint shook his head and carried on.

-

A few minutes later Flint had stopped walking and was working on a section of wall, illuminated by his flashlight laying on the ground. The smell of paint driving off the old rain smell, and the shaking of spray cans driving off the echoes.

He wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to paint and was mostly hoping inspiration would strike as he started to work. It was going okay, and he could feel himself slipping into a nice artistic trance when he heard the sound of footsteps echoing off the walls. He froze, wondering if someone had seen him go into the sewers and thought he was an easy target to rob, or if it was a cop.  

Except, it wasn't coming from the direction of the entrance.

It was coming from deeper inside.

Flint didn't move. He could feel his heart in his chest jumping and his mind overflowed with the images of true crime shows and horror movies.

The noise stopped, and Flint twisted his head to face it.

He could just see it, the beam of his flashlight barely managing to reveal its outline while the rest of it was cloaked in shadow. It was huge, almost twice his height and just as wide, with bulging masses of muscles the size of his head. Flint could make out the pointed shape of spikes running up and down the scaly skin of its arms. He saw more spikes curling down his back, and a few splitting from his shoulders, sharper and longer than the others. It was hunched over slightly and pinned Flint in place with two blank, glowing, white eyes.  

Flint could hear his breath hitch, and his legs shake.

He didn't want to die. Oh God, is he going to die?

The thing tilted its head and leaned slowly closer to the light. Flint could just make out the glimpse of bright red around its wrists, when something on the thing shoulder moved and two more glowing eyes opened and stared at him.

Flint ran. He abandoned his paint and flashlight, and just ran. Ran through the endless darkness towards the entrance, feeling the air rush past him and the walls closing around him, trying to trap him inside. They were inches away from touching his skin, he knew it. even if he couldn't see it, he knew it. He just had to get out.

Had to get out. Had to get out. HadtogetouthadtogetouthadtogETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUT-

he collapsed into the light of the sun right of the tunnel and stared back into the darkness. Nothing came out after him.

After a few minutes of catching his breath, Flint went home. He never went back for his supplies. He never told anyone, never posted about it on the internet, he knew no one would believe him. And he figured that if he never went back into that thing's territory, it would leave him alone.

He didn't want to know what it was; he didn't care. As the saying goes “live and let live.” So, if it let him live, he would do the same. He figured that was fair.

-

Raph blinked at the spot where the artist had stood and just put his head in his hand. Dang it, he hadn't meant to scare the kid. Mikey yawned from his spot on Raph’s back.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Nothing,” Raph said. “Let's get you to bed, you don't think your Sleepy-Little-Brother act gonna get me not to tell Pops you were out late painting again.”

“But I am tired. It's not an act if I’m actually tired.”

Prev - Next - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge, and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. Please give me feedback if there is anything I should work on.

@nickelodeon Bring Back Rise

Rise April Challenge 22: Father

Prev - Next - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here !TW! Implied Depression and Self Hatred !TW!

There’s nothing that triggers it. There isn’t a grand event that snapped all the pieces into place, it just hits Yoshi one night as he lies in bed waiting for sleep.  

I’m a father.  

It hits the man like a train. His body stiffens like he’s back in the arena and about to be attacked and he jumps up, sleep gone from his mind.  

I am a father. I have children.  

His hands shake and he tries to remain calm. But his mind is filled with his few memories of his mother. Soft, gentle, loving. Gone. Gone from his life in a second. Leaving him to grow up without her. She never saw him earn his first colored belt in martial arts, she never had talked to him about his first crush, or been there for his first audition, or to help him pick out a ring for the person he thought he would spend the rest of his life with.  

She was just gone. And part of Yoshi hates her for it, for choosing some sacred duty over her own son. He was a child. Did she really think that some story from an old dusty book would be a good enough reason for him to accept being abandoned?  

It hurts.  

Yoshi hasn’t admitted that to anyone in years.  

Not when his mother left, not when Grandpa Sho only called him up after years of silence to demand he quit his career as an actor to follow his “destiny,” not even when the women he had loved had lied to him and tortured him for spectacle.  

But now, in the dark of the New York City sewars, rat hands clamped over his mouth in shock at the idea of being a father, Yoshi lets the pain take hold and cries.  

He cries for the first time in what felt like years, breaths coming out in hiccups, and he tries to hold himself together. But it’s a losing battle.  

God dammit! How had anyone ever thought he was a powerful warrior? How could anyone look at him and see a champion? A star? Not that anyone would think that now. Not with a naked pink tail and shaggy, dirty fur.  

Whatever he had once possessed that made anyone think he was worthy of admiration was gone, burned out of him with his humanity.  

And then, the world had decided to give him 4 sons. Decided to make him a father. Why?! Why did those wonderful, amazing boys have to get him as a father? Surely, they deserved better. They deserved better than a vain movie star that only cared about his own fame. They deserved better than a chained-up beast made only to spill blood for others entertainment. They deserved better than a sewar rat, that couldn’t even stop crying over a death that happened years ago.  

They deserved better than him.

-

Yoshi doesn’t remember falling asleep that night, but he still wakes up the next morning. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next.  

He does his best not to be bitter over the fact that his eyes still open every morning, because he is a father. His sons need him. But as they get older, they start to need him less and less. So, he pulls back from them.  

Because they deserve better.

Prev - Next - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here

Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. Please give me feedback if there is anything I should work on.

Rise April Challenge 21: Jokes

Prev - Next - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here

Leo had a sly smile as he approached Casey from behind, who was sitting on the couch with Mikey watching TV.  

“Hey, man.” He said, leaning over and wrapping his arm around Jr. The time traveler looked up with a bright smile.

“Hi Leonardo. How are you?”

“Oh, I’m wonderful, my friend.” Leo said, eyes mischievous. “Say, I was wondering, what do you call a baby butterfly with whiskers?”

Casey tilted his head in confusion, while Mikey's eyes widened, and he sat up straight. A look of fear on his face.

“Leo don’t-”

“A cat-erpillar.” 

Mikey fell back and groaned in annoyance, while Leo erupted with laughter. “Oh, that was a good one.” Leo brushed away a tear.

“But... caterpillars don't have whiskers.”

The two brothers stared at Casey for a moment, and Casey just stared back. Then his eyes went wide with realization.

“Oh, because cats have whiskers, and caterpillar starts with ‘cat.’ Cat-erpillar.” He started chuckling and giggling. “I get it! That's pretty funny sensei.”

Leo’s eyes went wide, and his face fell with shock. Then he lit up like a sunrise. Mikey saw this and began to wave his arms around in a panic.

“Leo, wait-”

“Oh, this is going to be fun!”

“No, it won’t! Leo, please-”

-

The next time they were eating pizza with the family. Leo smiled and bumped Casey’s shoulder with his own.

“Hey, kid.” He said and Casey looked up. “I saw this really cool chimney for sale and was thinking about buying it.” Jr furrowed his brow, while everyone else went stiff with concealed panic.

“Why would you want to buy a chimney? We live underground.” Leo waved his hands dismissively.

“Not important to the story. I thought it was going to cost a lot it turns out it was-”

“Nardo, please!”

“-on the house.”

The table erupted in groans and there was a bang as Raph dropped his head to the table. Casey just nodded at his master's words.

“Well, that was nice of them.” He turned and took another bite of pizza, then stopped mid chew a look of deep thought on his face. Then, he spit out the bite as he started to laugh.

“OH! On the house! Because roofs are on top of houses.”

“Ah, there you go.” Leo said, slapping Casey on the back. “See guys, he gets it!”

“This is going to be a thing, isn’t it?” Donnie asked, unenthusiastically and already knowing the answer. Leo just smirked back.

“Of course, it is.”

-

Leo and junior were sitting by themselves on a rooftop, when Leo turned to his friend.

“You know, I used to have this friend with kind of messed up feet.”

“Really?” Casey asked, turning to face him.

“Yeah,” Leo said, leaning back. “He would always stand super crooked and would always have to keep rocking back and forth to keep standing up.” Casey's face pinched in sympathy at the thought.

“Did it hurt him?”

“Naw, it was mostly just annoying or uncomfortable. Eventually, his doctor recommended that he at these new orthopedic shoes, and he kept saying that they weren't for him, but he did end up getting them and now he...”

Leo looks Casey straight in the eyes as he finishes his sentence, looking like the cat who had caught the canary. “...stands corrected.”

Casey just smiled back at the smug face.

“That's good for them. I'm happy they found something that works.”

Silence. Then-

“Wait a sec! Mater Leonardo-”

“HAHAHHAHHA!”

-

“Casey!” Leo called, and Jr quickly bolted over worried.

“Leonardo, what is it?” He found him standing by the closed bathroom door. Leo looked over and smiled.

“I need your help.” The turtle said, stepping back. “The door is jammed.”

And, indeed, sitting on the door handle was a jar of jam.  

“Ok, I’ll try and open it” Casey said politely, walking over and picking up the jar. He was already pushing down on the handle before he looked at the label on the jar and froze.

Leo burst out laughing and nearly fell over, gasping and bending over with his arms wrapped around his stomach. Casey just furrowed his brow in confusion, mouthing the words over. Then he straightened up, looked at the laughing turtle and began to giggle himself.

“I don't think that was as a good as the others.” he said, still chuckling.

“Oh, come on! That was a great one!” Leo said, taking the jar from Casey and leaving to return it to the kitchen.

-

“Hey, Leo?” Casey asked from his seat in the back of the tank.

The slidder smiled at the use of the nickname, instead of “sensei,” or “master.” It was nice that the kid was starting to relax around him.

“What up, Jr?” He responded and looked back. The kid was shifting back and forth anxiously. He then shyly looked up and cleared his throat.

“What do you call a dog that can do magic?”

The rest of the tank froze and stared in shock at the time traveler. Was he about to...

“I don’t know,” Leo said casually, not really taking in the question.

“A Labra-cadavrador.”

Leo’s head finally caught up to the conversation and his eyes went wide.

“Did he just...?” Mikey asked.

“No,” Donnie said. “He couldn’t have.”

Before the shocked discussion could go any further, Leo launched himself out of seat and tackled the human boy with a hug, laughing and squishing the boy tight.

“That was so good, kid!” He cried joy overwhelming him at the thought that Casey could relax enough for him to joke like that. The kid trusted him, the kid was joking! Leo had never been prouder.  

“You deserve around of a-paws for that one.” The slidder said, still hugging the kid tight. A round of groans echoed in the car. “Don’t listen to them, Casey. That joke was paw-some!”

“Stop it! No more!”

“Sorry, Mikey,” Casey said, rubbing the back of his head from his spot in Leo’s arms. “Can you, uh, fur-give me?”

“Donnie, open the window. I’m jumping out.”

“Wait, no! I really am sorry! I’ll stop!”

“Would you care if I joined you, Angelo?”

“WAIT! NO, SIRS-”

Prev - Next - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here

Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge, and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. Please give me feedback if there is anything I should work on.

Rise April Challenge 21: Chaos

Prev - Next - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here

Raph gripped the pillow under his head and tried not to shake with the force of his shivers. He hated being sick. Leo just smiled from his seat on the bed, looking down as he counted out pills from a bottle.

“Alright, big buy. Open up.”  Raph thought about saying no, but the sooner this was over with the better. He reached out and popped the pills in his mouth, accepting the straw from the cup Leo was holding. The cold drink felt very nice on his sore throat, and he grabbed the cup and drained it. Leo just smiled and patted Raph’s arm.

“So, how long do I need to stay in bed?” Raph asked, voice nasial and horse. Leo just shrugged.

“Till you feel better.” Raph groaned and buried his head in the pillow. “Oh, don't be like that, you big baby. You'll be in fighting shape in no time, if you don't get out of bed.”

Raph lifted his head and looked at Leo, ignoring the pounding in his skull.  

“Are you guys gonna be okay?”

“Hermano, were not tots.” Raph wanted to say that they could have fooled him, but he was too tired to try. He just snuggled deeper into his blankets and closed his eyes.

“I’m gonna take a nap now...” He slurred and felt his brother’s hand rub on his head.

“Night, bro. Call if you need me.”

-

Raph woke up to the sounds of crashing and screaming.

He was out of bed and halfway out the door before his eyes were fully open, bed sheet tangled around his legs.  

“Guys! What’s happening?! What’s wrong?!”

He stopped his frantic rush as his eyes landed on the mess that was the floor of the skate ramp. Paint cans, action figures, bundles of wires, books, and socks were scattered between water bottles, plastic balls, and what looked to be a curtain rood. In the middle of the disaster of random items was Mikey, lying on his back. Raph rushed over and bent over his brother.

“Mikey! Mikey! What happened? Are you ok?!”  

Mikey moaned and blinked at him.

“Raph? What are you doing up?”

“Nevermind that, are you hurt?”

“Naw, I just fell.” Raph relaxed at that and let out a sigh.

“You got to be more careful, Mike.”

“Indeed, you do.” Said a voice from across the room, and the two looked over to see Donnie and Leo coming out of Don’s lab.

“Yeah, yeah,” Mikey dismissed standing up and looked around at the clutter on the floor.  

“Alright,” Leo clapped his hands together. “No one's hurt and everything is fine. So, vamos hermano mayor, you’re on bed rest.”

Raph just blinked dumbly for a moment, the adrenaline wearing off, and the feeling of stiff joints and aching muscles reminding him that he wasn’t in the best shape.

But should he just leave his brothers to whatever they were doing? ...What were they doing actually?

He didn’t get a chance to ask before he had been shuffled back to bed by Leo and tucked in.

...Raph guessed it was nothing to worry about.

-

Raph was worried. Leo had woken him up to take more meds and the younger was covered in what looked stripes of paint, ash, and... feathers?

“What happened?” He asked. Leo just shrugged.

“Nothing important.”

Raph narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but the effect was ruined by a coughing fit, which Leo soothed with more cold water.

“It’s all good, Raph. I promise. You just sleep, I’ll wake you up when it’s lunch.” 

“You better not be lying.” Raph said, and accepted the meds Leo gave.

-

Raph had woken up about half an hour ago, and he was getting tired of just playing on his phone. Plus, he was starting to get really hungry. He was feeling well enough to get himself some soup or something, and if Leo was going to throw a fit about Raph getting out of bed, he could always point out how often Leo was out and about when he was meant to be on bedrest.

Raph put the ramen in the microwave and poured himself a cup a juice while he waited. He pulled the comforter he brought with him closer around him and sniffed loudly, he really hated being sick.

Just then, Donnie bolted around the corner and slid into the kitchen, throwing open the cabinets and frantically digging around inside. He likely didn’t find what he needed, because he whipped around to try another and froze when he saw Raph blinking at him.

The two just stared at each other till the microwave beeped loudly and broke the silence. Raph turned and opened the door, taking the bowl.

“You good, Don?” He asked. His words seem to snap the softshell out of whatever was going on his head. He stood up straight and cleared his throat.

“Yes, I am perfectly alright. What are you doing out of bed?” Raph lifted the bowl of ramen his hand, confused.

Donnie didn’t ask obvious questions like that.  

Donnie rocked on his heels and smiled stiffly.

“Wonderful,” the genius said. “In that case we should get you to bed right away. Chop, chop.” He was already trying to herd his big brother towards his room. Raph tried to protest, he may be tired, sick, and maybe a little slow on the uptake, but he wasn't stupid.

“Don, what’s going on? Why is everyone-”

“LOOK OUT!”

The brothers turned and saw Mikey flying towards them, riding on the back of...

What the heck was that?

Raph didn’t have much time to try and figure that out because he was being tackled out of the way by Donnie. The bowl of hot ramen flying out of his hand, while Mikey and his ride brailed screaming into the kitchen.

Oh, that did not feel good. The snapper leaned against the wall and tried to keep his head from spinning. He then squinted his eyes open to see the chaos unfolding in the room.

Donnie was tearing through the cabinets and shouting for Mikey to: “Hold it still! Watch the tail! THE TAIL, MIKE!” While Mikey tried to follow the instructions and yelled right back. “I SEE THE TAIL! WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO ABOUT IT, DONALD?! AHHHHH!”

The “it” that they were talking about was some cross between a chicken, a salamander and... a toaster? Yep, a shiny medal body with feathered wings flapping manically, and the toggle to start the toasting on its side jumping up and down, making that clicking-shinking noise. Its eyes were going in two different directions and jumping around. It had two tails too, one a roster’s plumage, all puffed out, and an electric cord that was trying to wrap around Mikey to throw him off.

…

Was Raph dreaming?  

Donnie yelled and whipped around with something in his hand.

“CATCH!” He yelled and threw a canister at Mikey. Mikey caught it, ripped off the lid and dumped whatever was inside over the monster's head. Raph just stared as a pile of breadcrumbs fell on the thing's eyes and it just... stopped. It settled down, and just stood still.  

Mikey and Donne relaxed and the youngest slid off the chicken-toaster thing, and then locked eyes with Raph and froze in the same way Donnie had earlier.

“Hey, Raph~” He drawled out.

Raph just pinched his stuffed nose, his headache worsening, and his body still shaking with chills. Dammit, he was too sick for this mess.

“Has it hurt anyone?”  He asked, not opening his eyes to look at the scene in front of him.

“No.”

“Are you going to be dealing with it?”

“Yes.”

“Do you need me for that?”

“No.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“Not anymore.” Not ideal, but good enough.

“Great.” Raph turned and walked to his room. “Have Leo bring me some food when he can.”

-

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Raph asked when Leo came in with a bowl of soup and crackers. Leo just shuffled awkwardly.

“You were sick, and nothing you did could have helped. You would have been worried over nothing.” Raph looked up and prayed to whatever was up there for strength.  

“Alright, fine. I won’t give you all a lecture, even if you clearly deserve one, so long as we never have to talk or think about whatever the heck that was ever again.”

Leo smiled and handed over the food.

“Deal.”

Prev - Next - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. Please give me feedback if there is anything I should work on.

Rise April Challenge 19: Baby

Prev - Next - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here

A thick blanket had been thrown over the cold tile floor of the kitchen, images of dinosaurs and volcanoes spread across its surface. A few stuffed animals and some of Donnie and Mickey's old fidget toys had been spread across the blanket. Mikey lay on his stomach, his upper half resting on the blanket while the rest of him hung off.  

The box turtle stared wide eyed at the four small forms crawling around on the blanket in awe.

When Draxum had called and explained that Mikey’s brothers had been transformed into children, Mikey had thought that he had meant ten to twelve. Not literal babies.

He could hear Splinter and Draxum arguing in the room over, but from what he could tell it was mostly just worried shouting with a few insults. Nothing that really needed Dr Feelings’ supervision. Besides, he was too busy staring at the little baby turtles crawling around on the floor.

They were so... tiny. Leo and Donnie could sit in Mikey's cupped hands, and while Raph was a bit too big for that, being twice the height of the other two. Mikey wondered how their dad had raised them without worrying about stepping on them.

Raph was currently chewing on the paw of a teddy bear, that he was cuddling with. Donnie had gotten hold of one of Mikey's old slinkies and was rolling it forward and back from where he sat with a look of very serious concentration. Leo on the other hand was giggling and trying to work the buttons on a fidget cube but that was the size of his chest. Mikey just stared at his little brothers.

Little brothers. Mikey had little brothers.

Holy cow, Mikey was a Big Brother!  

The thought made him squeal with overwhelming giddiness and excitement. He knew that this wasn’t going to last very long, Draxum had said that they should be fine by tomorrow, but still!

Donnie made a small quacking bark as he pushed the slinky too hard and it rolled farther away. The baby turtle wobbly stood up and stumbled towards the toy.  Leo stopped and looked over at the noise and, seeing his brother, he dropped the cube and crawled over. Just as Donnie had reached his toy, Leo stood up and with a smile and a loud squeal, leaned forward and fell on his brother in a hug/tackle. Donnie yelped and grunted as he tried to wiggle out from under his red eared brother.  

The noise broke Raph of his cuddle with his teddy bear. He stood and walked over to his brothers, much steadier than the younger two. He leaned over the wriggling mass and wrapped his arms around them and picked the twins up and held them to his chest, which just made the noise louder.

Raph then looked over at Mikey and held up Donnie and Leo with a proud look on his face while the other two just stared.  

Mikey wasn’t going to make it! This was it!  

The now eldest sat up and reached over, grabbed them all and placed his brothers in his lap. Donnie had settled and seemed resigned to the cuddle fest and just glared at them all. Leo settled across his twin’s back, rubbing his cheek across Don’s soft shell, and closed his eyes. Raph just sat up and swung his tail back and forth letting out happy chuffing purrs. Mikey just smiled and tried to keep from squirming in joy. Then he reached over and grabbed his phone, opening the camera.

He was going to tease them so much when they were fixed!

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Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. Please give me feedback if there is anything I should work on.

Rise April Challenge 18: Sleep

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Please just go to sleep. It’s not that hard, just sleep. Just sleep. Just sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep-

Leo groaned into his pillow and rolled over on to his back. The mantra had been repeating endlessly in his mind for he didn’t even want to know how long, and he just wanted to sleep.  

Leo has had insomnia since he was young, the feeling of desperately reaching out for sleep, only to be met with more exhaustion was an old friend at this point. But it could be worse.

When the four brothers had researched their respective species, they had found that Red Eared Sliders only needed about 4-5 hours of sleep a day, meaning that Leo didn’t need as much shuteye as the others. But those few hours were very important. But on these long nights, when Leo’s mind wouldn’t let his body rest, all he could do was wait for the sun to rise and drown himself in coffee in hopes of driving back the heavy pounding on his limbs.

Leo sighed and sat up. He just needed to accept that he wasn’t going to slip into the dark, and just try and relax till his brain let him sleep. He leaned out of bed, stood up, and headed to the kitchen.  

Leo’s ninja training helped keep his movements quiet as he filled the kettle and placed it on the stove. The familiar routine made him feel more centered and present, rather than just floating around in the sea of nondescript stress and exhaustion that was his mind right now. He opened one of the cabinets and considered the different types of tea inside.

Lavender, Chai, Jasmine, Marigold, Chamomile, Chrysanthemum...

…

…

…

…

...what was that noise?

Oh shoot!

The kettle had begun to whistle. The shrill sound having just barely started before Leo leaped over and yanked it away from the heat. He just stares at the stove for a moment before flicking it off and placing the kettle down.

Damn, he didn't think that he was this far along. He had to have been zoned out for at least a few minutes for the water to start boiling, which meant that he was starting on his way to sleep deprivation. That was never fun.

Leo grabbed a mug and the first box of tea he felt without looking at it. He placed the teabag in the cup and poured the water.

He watched the steam float away from the mug, transfixed by its swirling, twisting patterns. There and not there all at once. It looked like it should be whispering in hushed voices that he couldn’t understand, it looked-

Focus Leo, focus. You can stare at hot water vapor later.

He picked up the mug and walked into the living room, turning off the kitchen light. He settled down on the couch and covered himself with one of the throw blankets. He considered turning on a move but decided that the remote was too far away for him to even try.

So, Leo sat in the silent darkness.  

The lair draped in a stillness that only came when everyone was asleep, an overpowering sense of solitude that flowed around Leo like water. It was a little scary, but this was a part of the insomnia that Leo could enjoy. The only part of it really. It was like having a secret, like these moments were something that was just for him alone. Even if he was half out of his mind with exhaustion.

Leo relaxed into cushions and peered out into the endless shadows. The mug was warm in his hand and the blanket was soft. He took a few sips of his tea as he looked at the empty shadow-covered room but set it down on the table before he even drank an eighth of it.  

He didn’t try and force his brain to shut off, he had already tried and failed to do that all night, he just allowed it to wander. Leo let this mind think without paying it much attention and just sat and stared at nothing.

Soon Leo found his brain’s ramblings fading in and out. Going from half formed thoughts to white noise and back. Good. It meant that he would finally get to sleep, he just had to let it happen.  

Don’t force it, don’t make it, just let it happen.

It took him an hour to completely slip away, and even then, he still woke up several times. But Leo, slowly, managed to sleep his way through the night and into the bright morning of the next day.  

Prev - Next - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. Please give me feedback if there is anything I should work on.

Rise April Challenge 16: Mask

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(This is a bit of a long one, but I think it’s worth it. Also, I go to make April say “bitch” so that’s fun. Warning: Feels Ahead!)

The Boys were acting weird. Which was quite a feat considering that they were mutant turtles, trained in the art of Ninja-ing. April wasn't even counting the fact that they were teenagers. In April's experience, all teens were weird. So yeah, the boys were acting stranger than normal. 

It started when she went to meet them on the roof of her current job. Raph arrived first and gave his lovely snaggle tooth grin. 

"Hey, big guy!" She calls out, waving him over to sit next to her by the small wall that went around the edge of the roof. "The others on their way?" 

"They stopped by Run of The Mill to get us some pizza." He said, sitting down and crossing his legs. 

"Cool." She responded and opened her phone, expecting Raph to do the same. 

But when she looked up a few seconds later he was staring at his lap, the place where his eyebrows should have been furrowed in concentration. He was thinking very hard about something, and when Raph was thinking hard about anything it was normally meant bad news. 

"You good over there, Boss Man?" April asked. The mutant jumped a little and snapped his head towards her, a big smile twisting his face. 

"Yep! I'm good! Why wouldn't I be good? I'm the best at being good!" Raph said, words rushing out like water out of a firehose. 

...Yeah, something was definitely wrong. April put her phone down and turned to face him. 

"Come on, bud. What's going on?" she asked and tried to look him in the eyes, even as the snapper nervously turned his head away from her. "You always say that you're here for all of us, no matter what. And you know that we would do anything for you."  

Raph softened at the girl's words. He shifted and squirmed, and though it was hard to tell with his green skin, April thought she saw him blushing. She waited and didn't look away, trying to project a calm and loving aura. The turtle finally sighed and faced her. 

"I'm Ok, April. Raph promises." His smile was softer now, more real and relaxed, and April knew that that was the best she was going to get. She patted his arm, scales smooth on her hand. 

"Alright, but just know that we're here if you need help. Or if you just need to talk." She leaned back against the wall and picked up her phone again. It's best not to push her friend unless he really needs it. 

"What's your favorite color?"  

The question was sudden and so different than what they had just been talking about it took a few seconds for April's brain to process it. 

"...It's yellow, why-" She was cut off by a loud whoop and the sound of skateboard wheels, and when she looked over Leo was jumping over from the neighboring roof with a pizza box in his arms. The skateboard flipped under him and rolled across the roof as he landed next to them. Mikey and Donnie shortly appeared next to him, 

"It's Pizza Time!" Leo yelled and that was just enough of a distraction that by the time they were all settled, April had forgotten the strange question.

-

The second time was with Leo. 

They were having a makeover day, with different types of eyeshadows, blush, and nail polish spread all over the living room table. It was hard doing make-up on someone who was green, but Leo looked great if April did say so herself. They were munching on candy and watching some stupid internet challenge video, while waiting for their nails to dry when Leo asked the question. 

"So what do you use for your pigtails?" She blinked and turned to him. 

"What do you mean?" Leo had his look that he always used when he wanted to look natural but was really after something. 

"Just, you know, you always complain about how hard your hair is to style. But it always looks fabuloso, So, you know, I just wanted some tips." Leo flashed his sparkling teeth at her like it would distract her from how weird his question was. 

"You don't even have hair. What do you need tips for?" 

"Casey said that Mikey had hair in the future. I'm hoping it will grow in." April narrowed her eyes at Leo, who was examining his nails with a clearly fake casualness.  

Well... it wasn't like it was personal or anything. 

"I can't wear hair ties because my hair is too thick, they always snap and they're a pain to use. I normally just use some ribbons to tie them up." Leo smirked 

"Wow. You're sweet, strong, pretty and with a bow on top!" April shoved him away.  

"Oh, come on that was a "ribbon" good one." Uuuhhhh, why her?! 

"Ow! Alright, alright I'll stop "ribbon" on you. OW! Ok, I'll stop! Wait hold on-WAIT! APRIL, I'M SORRY! UNCLE! UNCLE!"

-

Next time was with Donnie.  

April knew the soft shell had problems with boundaries, they've had to have several interventions to explain to Donnie that "It doesn't matter if you think you know better, you can't mess with our stuff without asking." Or "I know that you wanna keep us safe, but you can't tag track us without telling us." But it was normally alright. Donnie just needs some help understanding some things, and he usually said he was sorry, even if he still insisted that he was in the right. But April had thought that Donnie at least understood the basics of social etiquette, like not digging through a girl's closet without asking! 

But when she entered her bedroom after a long day of work, there he was: sifting through her shirts with his back facing her, and with a pile on the bed that was not there when she left. 

April closed her eyes, took a deep breath in, held it, and slowly let it out and relaxed her shoulders. She gently set down her backpack and opened her eyes. 

Then she took a flying leap and tackled Donnie to the ground. 

"OW! APRIL?! You're home early. How was- OW!" April wrestled the turtle into a chokehold, holding him down as he struggled, and she hit his chest with all the rage she could muster.  

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU ASSHOLE?!" 

"Wait! April, Stop! I can explain-" 

"EXPLAINE?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" 

"Currently, I'm being beaten by a small, angry, teen-" 

"YOU DON'T JUST GO TROUGH A PERSON'S CLOSET! THAT OFF LIMITS!" 

"It wasn't like I was looking for your underwear! I was just looking at your shirts!" 

April stopped and glared down at Donnie squirming in her arms.  

"You got one chance to say something that will fix this, or I will be giving Leo an airhorn, and telling Mikey that you need more therapy." Donnie stilled. 

"You wouldn't." 

"You wanna test that?" April said, gritting her teeth. "Try me, Bitch."  

Donnie sighed in defeat. 

"I just wanted to get a sense for your style." 

What the heck? April let go of Donnie and crossed her arms. 

"Why?" 

"Style is an important part of expressing yourself, it reflects how you want others to see you, as well as what other factors like personality, overall mood, values-" They were getting too far off topic. 

"Yeah, I get all that. But why do you wanna know all that?" 

"...To be a better friend..." Donnie said with a fixed and stiff smile. April didn't stop glaring. Donnie drew back a little but stopped. The smile dropped and was replaced by a regretful look. "I'm sorry, April. I get that I was wrong and shouldn't have done that. I swear that I wasn't doing it to invade your privacy and I do have a reason. I just... can't tell you right now. But I promise I will! And I also promise that I will never do this again." 

April sighed and uncrossed her arms. She was still angry, but she had an apology and Donnie did promise. 

"Fine. But this is the only warning you'll get, and you owe me big time." 

Donnie smiled, a real one this time. It was soft and grateful, and felt so sincere that it threw her for a loop when she saw it. It didn't feel like it matched the situation at all. 

"Of course. Anything you want."

-

The third time was with Mikey.  

She had woken up in the middle of the night to find him hanging upside down outside her window, tapping on the glass. She stumbled out of bed, and towards the window to open it. 

"Mikey? What are you doing? It's late." 

"Sorry, I just needed to ask you something." 

... 

... 

Why did it have to be April? 

She thought about just slamming the glass in his face and going to bed, but, knowing Mikey, that would not deter him. So, she just sighed. 

"What is it?" The turtle dug around in his pockets and shoved two small squares of fabric in her face.  

"Which do you like better?" He asked, smile never leaving his face. She was too tired of this, but she still reached out and felt the squares. 

"This one," she said holding one up. Mikey took them back and nodded. 

"Great. Thanks, April. Night." He vanished into the shadows and was gone. 

April shut the window and fell to bed, too sleepy to care what on earth that was all about.

-

The last time, it was with all of them. 

A few days later, she walked into the living room and found the four brothers sitting on the floor in silence. 

Raph had called April a few minutes and asked her to head down to the lair as soon as she could, that it was important. He had said that nothing was wrong when she had asked, but with the way they were all gathered in a semicircle with serious looks on their face it felt like they wear going to tell her someone died. 

What was happening?!

April walked and sat down with a thump in front of them and narrowed her eyes. The tension in the room was thick, but she wasn’t going to back down from whatever this was. She would face it head on and beat it into submission. She wouldn’t run, not from her friends, not from whatever this was. 

“What’s going on?” she asked, staring into each of their eyes. They stared back. 

“We wanted to give you something,” Raph said, sounding calm and centered. But there was a lilt to his voice, a quake that made him sound... nervous? 

The red turtle reached behind him and handed over a flat white box. April took it and saw Mikey wriggle out the corner of her eye.   

This felt... big. Like some kind of old sacred ritual. It felt as though there was something else in the room, a presence that made every move seem purposeful and heavy. It made her hair stand on end.  

April placed the box in her lap and looked at the brothers. Each of them was turned away and... blushing? 

Screw it. She’d just have to rip the Band-Aid off. 

She opened the box. 

Inside, was a mask.  

She froze when she saw it, its long tails spread out and the eye holes stared back at her. 

It was yellow.  

“What’s your favorite color?” 

She reached down and touched it. She knew this fabric. 

“Which of these do you like better?” 

That wasn’t all that was in the box though. There were also two long, green ribbons, knotted at the ends, and strung through a beaded charm, that glinted in the light. It was the symbol of the Hamato Clan. 

“We were thinking you could use them for your hair.” Leo said, his eyes locked on the floor and skin a bright pink when April whipped her wide eyes up to look at him. “Because you can’t wear the mask all the time like us.”  

"So, what do you use for your pigtails?" 

“We wanted to make sure it could be something you could wear without it looking out of the ordinary for you.” Donnie added, scratching the back of his hand. 

"I just wanted to get a sense for your style."  

April looked down at the box in her hand. Her hands trembled. 

This was-

Her vision blurred. 

So, all this time it was-  

Her throat went tight. 

She had called them her brothers before, had called them her family. But she had always worried that she was wrong, that it was just her that felt like that. But this was an undeniable confirmation that yes, you are Hamato. You are our sister. We love you.

“It’s ok if you don’t want-” She lunged forward before that sentence could be finished and wrapped them in a hug. She clung to them desperately, trying to pull them closer and closer. She buried her face in someone's chest and sobbed. Tears and snot ran down her face as she kept whispering: “Thank you, thank you, thank you, I love you, thank you.” over and over again. 

The mask lay on one floor, having fallen out of its box, and the two charms glinted like distant stars. All the while, the Hamato Clan children hugged and cried together. 

Prev - Next - Masterpost Ao3 Link: Here Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge (you can blame them for the feels) and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. Please give me feedback if there is anything I should work on.

Rise April Challenge 15: Buddy

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Buddy really liked his friends. They were fun, and always fixed him up when he got torn up. They were great!

Sometimes they got torn up too. But it was different than when he was ripped. A bit of tape and paper and he was fine, but his friends didn’t work like that.  

They leaked when they got a tare, apparently it was called “bleeding,” and they needed to wait a long time to get better. Thankfully Blue-Friend was very good at fixing human rips and holes, they also were harder to rip them than Buddy.

But there was another thing that was different.

He had been confused when his Orange-Friend made a huge amount of noise as Blue smeared a green cream over his fingers. When the smaller one had yelled as he ripped his hand from the hot pan, Buddy had thought that it was to call the Blue one to help. But even as he was getting fixed, Orange kept yelping and shouting. Why? Blue was already here.  

It had been very confusing.

-

He ended up asking Red-Friend. It was hard since he didn’t know how to say a lot of words, although Purple-One was teaching him more.

“Hey, Buddy. What’s up?” Red asked as he walked into the dojo.

“Buddy!” The paperman said. He found out that his name was also a used to say friend. That was very fun! He waited till he was closer before beginning to piece together his question.

“Why... do... Orange... make noise... when...” Buddy paused, trying to grab the word. “...he touch... hot?” That worked.

Red furrowed his eyes.

“When he got burned?” Burned! That was the word. He’ll try to remember that.  

Buddy nodded.

“Well, it hurt. That’s kinda what you do.”

Hurt. That wasn’t a new word, Buddy had heard it before, but he didn’t know what it meant.

“What... ‘hurt’?”

Red looked shocked, before shaking his head.

“Right, forgot that you don’t know this stuff. Hurt is... uh, like when you feel pain.”

“Pain?” He didn’t know that one.

“It’s like-” Red started but stopped and stared at Buddy. Buddy stared back. “Do you... like feel pain? It’s just that your paper and-” He stopped again, and Buddy just waited. “Pain is like when your body is yelling at you. That something is hurting- uh, that something is wrong. Do you... have that?”

Buddy thought about it. He always knew when something was wrong with his body, but it never yelled at him. (He thinks Red meant that part ‘figuratively’. (Good word, Buddy!)) It was just him knowing that it wasn’t right.  

He eventually shook his head.  

“Oh. Well, that makes sense. Don’t worry about the noises, Buddy. It’s just something we do.”  

Buddy nodded and left to go think.

So, his friends got “hurt” and felt “pain.” That did not sound fun. Buddy thought of other times his friends were hurt. He recalled their scrunched-up faces and the ugly sounds they made. He thought of the way they squirmed, trying to get away from their rips, or how they clenched their teeth. He decided that he didn’t like seeing his friends be hurt.  

But if it was bad for him to see hurt, was it worse to have pain?  

Buddy decided that he was happy he didn’t have pain, and he was also going to make sure that his friends didn’t need to get pain.

Buddy smiled tucked away this line of thought and wondered off to see if anyone wanted to play a game with him.

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Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge for more submissions from other fans. Feel free to give me feedback if I need to work on anything.

Rise April Art Challenge 14: Spar

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Sparing had never been fun for Donnie. It was tiring, and he would much rather be in his lab being a genius than in the dojo being a punching bag. It didn’t help that Donnie could never pull his punches correctly. He was never sure how much force to use, so he would either just barely tap his brothers or leave them with bad bruises that would last weeks. It was frustrating.

So, when Mikey had asked him to spar with him, Donnie had tried to redirect him to Leo or Raph. It wasn’t working.

“Come on, Dee!”

“Mikey, I don’t want to!”

“Just one round, please.”

“No. It’s never just one round!”

“It is this time! I promise!” Mikey’s wide eyes and puffed out lip were wearing down Donnie’s defenses, and the soft shell did not want to have to deal with a grumpy Mikey.

“Fine!” He groaned and walked towards the dojo. Mikey yelped in victory and followed behind.

Donnie picked up a wooden bo and swung it around, trying to adjust his mind into the right patterns for fighting his brother. He turned to face Mikey, only to find him kneeled down and fiddling with a boombox.

“Mikey, what are you doing?” His younger brother turned to him and smiled.

“I know you don’t like sparing, so I thought I could help make more fun.” He hit the play button on the box, and a fast electric song filled the room.

Mikey turned up the volume till it was blasting and nodded to the beat, picking up his nunchakus and lengthening the chain.  

Donnie knew this song. It was heavy on the base, so deep he could feel it in his bones. He felt spikes run up and down his arms, and his legs were tensing and relaxing to the swings of sound that the music used. He could feel the desire to move well up inside of him as the rhythmic, electric spikes pounded into the room.

“Did you go through my playlist?” He asked, but Mikey just swung his hips to the music.  

Right.

Left.  

Mike slid his way onto the mat and took a fighting stance. Donnie slowly followed suit.

The music spiked for a moment and Mikey struck. His chain whipped out, and Don brought up his bo to block it. But the move was different than normal.

Mike had swung with his whole body, spinning completely around causing his weapon to be drawn back. It was an ineffective move, revealing too many openings that Donnie could take advantage of if he wasn’t so confused. The music spiked again then fell, Mikey then swung his nunchakus one way, then the other.

Right  

Left

Another spike. His brother charged Donnie, moving to ensnare his chain around the soft shell's arm. He dogged (Spike) and Mikey swung for the other arm.

Right

Left

Donnie finally attacked back, knocking away his brother's second swing and going stab to the chest. Mike leaned back, (Spike) then leaned forward and spun his weapon. Donnie ducked before he even saw Mike go for his head, and before he even had time to question how he knew, he dropped to ground.

Spike. He swung for the legs.

Mikey jump back into a handstand and (Spike) flipped forward trying to land on Donnie back. Don rolled away and leapt to his feet and struck for Mikey’s shoulders.

Strike, Right

Strike, Left

He was doing it now.  

There was a lull in the music and the two looked at each other. Mikey had a smug and happy smile on his face. While Donnie just looked shocked.

“Why?” He asked, and Mikey shrugged.

“You like dancing. Fighting’s like dancing, all we needed was a beat.”

Donnie smiled and they both fell back in their fighting stances as the music picked up again.

-

“Come on, Dee! I wanna eat!”

“Just one more round, Mikey!”

“Uuuuhhhh. Worst idea ever!”

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Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge for more submissions from other fans. Feel free to give me some feedback if I should improve on something.

April Rise Challenge 13: Umbrella

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Leo had been reading one of his comics when Donnie had barged in with a wide look in his eye.

“Woah, Hermano,” Leo said, catching his twin as he almost slipped and fell.  “What's got you in such a rush?”

Donnie's wide eyes turned to the slider, and he bared his teeth in an excited smile.

“Leo, it’s a Rain Day.”

Leo froze, and then his eyes bulged out.

“Really?! You’re sure?”

“Even if it wasn’t for my super advanced and accurate weather predicting system, I can see the storm clouds.” Leo broke into a smile and let go of Donnie so we could hop from foot to foot, whooping loudly.  

Rainy days were not unusual in any sense of the word. But Rain Days were different. They were only held on days when the water came down in sheets and the thunder rolled loud enough to drown out the city traffic. Rain Days only happened when there was a storm, and they were the best brother tradition the four of them had.

“How long do we have?” Leo asked, already looking around for his raincoat.

“About two hours,” Donnie responded. “So, we need to be ready in an hour and a half to get there in time. You-”

“Yeah yeah! I got this!” Leo cut in, scouring under the bed for his umbrella. “Take care of your own stuff, Tello!”

Donnie shrugged and rushed out of the room to get ready on his own. Leo felt giddy as he ran around, for once mad at himself for not keeping his room cleaner.

-

Within the hour, the four turtle brothers were all gathered at start of a long sewer tunnel. They were all dressed in rubber raincoats with either hoods or in mickey's case a rain hat. Raph had a bag under his arm that held towels and snacks, and each of them had a different colored umbrella. Mikey was bouncing on the balls of his feet, gleeful and unable to stand still.

“We all told dad where we’re going, right?” Raph asked glancing around.

“Of course,” Donnie said.

“Then let’s go already!” Mikey yelled, breaking into a sprint down the tunnel. The others quickly followed suit, whooping and hollering in excitement and anticipation.

It didn't take them long to reach the end of the tunnel where a large sewer grate was swung partially open. They all slowed as they neared it, allowing their noises to fade away into a heavy almost silence. They listened closely, but despite the heavy gray sky and the smell of electricity in the air, all they could hear was the distant sounds of the city.  

Raph reached out push the gate the rest of the way open stepping in the fresh air, and walking out of the tunnel to be bathed in the bit of sunlight that could peek through the wall of clouds above. The others followed behind, pulling their jackets tighter at the frosty cold.  

The outside of the tunnel was a long concrete canal that was far away from the rest of the city. The brothers walked silently down watching their breath appear in the cold air and float upwards. There was a rumble of thunder, and the boys stopped and waited. Leo felt the first drop of water land on his nose.

“It’s starting.” Leo said, and Mikey squealed in excitement. They all opened their umbrellas and continued walking.

By the time they reached their destination the rain had been consistently falling for a couple of minutes. A strange drum of water meeting plastic meeting each of their ears as the umbrellas prevented them getting wet.

Their destination was a small ladder that went up the side of the canal. Raph had already started climbing it, but Mikey couldn't wait any longer and simply ran up the side. Leo wanted to roll his eyes at his brother's enthusiasm, but he didn't want to be a hypocrite, so simply followed Raph up.  

On the top of the canal there was a singular huge tree, the last of the autumn leaves still clinging to its branches. In front of it was a shallow pit that they had dug when they were younger. It was big enough that Raph could lay down inside of it without having his feet hanging out. The bottom of it was coated with smooth rocks, and it was already filling with a shallow amount of rainwater. Mikey was sitting up in the branches of the tree, his umbrella hanging upside-down by its hook while he smiled down at them. The remaining three brothers sat beneath the tree branches and watched the sky, quietly waiting for the real rain to start. It didn't take long.

The sky opened and dumped the water down, thunder rolled loud enough to drown out the noise of the city, and the wind blew so hard that their umbrellas quickly became useless. Leo threw his up to Mikey who hung it upside down on a different branch than his own, which was already overflowing creating waterfalls down to the ground. The other two umbrellas swiftly followed. They hung like ornaments, catching the rain. It was a good thing that Donnie had reinforced all their umbrellas so they wouldn't break under the weight of the water.  

Once it was done Leo turned to the shallow pit which was filling up quite nicely. He smiled, stood up, walked to the edge, turned around and spread his hands.

“RAIN DAY!” he yelled, and on cue the thunder roared. Leo leaned back, allowed gravity to take hold, and fell shell first to the man-made pond.

The water was shockingly cold, and Leo was going to need a good cup of coffee after this was all done, but it felt heavenly.  

No matter how old they got, or how human they could act, some part of the Hamato brothers would always be turtles. It was a fact that could have been uncomfortable if they had not grown up with it. And on Rain Days four would allow themselves to be weak and indulge in the joy that rain brought to their amphibious minds.

As Leo sat up from the water, he heard his brother's yell and watched as Mikey ran and jumped into the water that came up to the box turtle’s knees.

Mickey wasn't an aquatic species of turtle, but for some reason he still loved Rain Days. Maybe it was simply hanging out with his brothers, or maybe he just enjoyed the rain for a normal reason. It didn't really matter.  

The youngest brother yelped and jumped at the temperature, making Leo laugh. While the other was distracted, the slidder reached over the side of the pit and grabbed a fistful of wet sticky mud. He aimed slowly as Mikey tried to get feeling back in his feet, and just when the orange turtle turned to him, Leo hurled it right into his face. It landed with a wet splat and Leo laughed at the look on his brother's face.

“So... You have chosen war, brother?” Mikey asked, and Leo knows he should be afraid but all he can do is smile and meet the challenge.

“Bring it.”

-

The day is spent with the four of them flinging mud and each other and splashing in the achingly cold water, and by the end of it they're all shivering with slightly blue fingers. And towards the end as the storm dies down, they all lie on their backs with their eyes closed underneath the old tree and feel the droplets fall on their faces until they decide to go home.

When they get back home, covered in mud and soaked to the bone, they'll take a lukewarm bath and sit with a hot drink under their heating lamp slowly bringing feeling back into their limbs. And the week will be filled with them complaining about their runny noses and how cold they all still are. But in the end, they'll be back to that old tree and shallow pit on the next Rain Day.

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Ao3 Link: Here

Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and look at @rise-april-art-challenge for more submissions by other fans.

(Sorry I haven't been keeping up with this, I had a lot of schoolwork that needed to be done. I will be working on catching up with this.)

April Rise Challenge 10: Reckless

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Ao3 Link: Here

!TW! Talk of Self Sacrifice/Death Of Loved Ones. No Actual Death/Sacrifice !TW!

Mikey whoops as he leaps straight up, the air rushing past him. There’s one glorious moment when he can’t go any higher, but before gravity pulls him back down, where he just hovers. Then he falls back to the ground.  The turtle curls into a ball and leans forward into a rolling tumble in the air.

Wait.

Not yet.  

NOW!

Mikey stretches out his arms and catches a rung of a fire escape, swinging all the way around before letting go and flinging himself to the next building.

“COWABUNGA!”

He tucked into another roll and leapt to his feet to keep running.  

This was a perfect night! The moon was full, the city was alive, and Mikey was razzing his tazz! Nothing was going to spoil tonight!

-

Raph was completely ruining his night! When Mikey had snuck back into his room, the runners high and excitement making him feel bubbly and buzzy, he hadn’t even glanced at the dark shadows in the corner.

“Hamato Michelangelo!” Mikey yelped, jumped, and curled into his shell in surprise. Dang it!

Before he could uncurl and relax, the box turtle felt his shell be picked up and turned over so he could peer out into one very angry snapper’s eyes. Yeah.... He’s going to stay in here for a minute.

“Hey, Raph.” He called trying for his most innocent smile, even his older brother couldn’t see it.  

“Where were you?” Raph asked with narrowed eyes. Oh no, not good.

“With April?” He tried.

“I called her already.” Double dang it. That was his only hope. Mikey popped his head out.

“Can you put me down first?” The snapper did so, and Mikey let his legs pop out so he could stand as tall as he could to appear confident. Not that it helped with the older brother.  

“I wasn’t doing anything bad.” The box turtle started.

“Then why didn’t you take anyone with you?” Raph crossed his arms.

“Because I wanted to be by myself for a little!”  

“You should have at least told someone.”  

“Then you would have made someone go with me!”

“I would not!”

“YES! YOU WOULD!” Mike threw up his arms in frustration. He knew this would happen. He tried to slow his breathing and lower his voice. He did not want the twins to take part in this.

“Well, I would have been better than you going topside alone!  I was worried sick! What if something happened?”

“I had my phone.”

“Really? Cause you didn’t pick up my calls.” Mikey winced at that. He had put his phone on silent for that very reason, he just didn’t want to be dealing with a call from Raph every 20 minutes. But... yeah, that wasn’t the best move.  

“Ok, I’m sorry. I’ll be better next time.”

“NEXT TIME? No, Mikey, there is no ‘next time!’ You can’t just disappear like that! Do you not realize how much stress you put me under when I don’t know where you are? How can you be so reckless?”

“Quit being such a hypocrite!” Mikey shot back. Because, ok, no. That is where Mikey draws the line. Because, yeah, he snuck out, turned his phone off, and worried Raph. And he will say that he’s wrong for doing that.  But Raph does not get to talk to him about being reckless.  “You wanna talk about being reckless, how about that time tackled Meatsweats, even though I would have been fine and we had a plan?”

“You were going to get hit! I had to-”

“Or when you dropped off a cliff so that the rest of us could unlock our Ninpō?”

“You guys-  

“Or what about with the Shredder, when you covered Donnie with your own body?”

“His shell-”

“Or when you almost killed yourself to save Leo from the Krang?!”

“HE WAS GOING TO DIE!”

“YOU WERE TOO!”

Both of the brothers froze at the words. Triple dang it, Mikey shouldn’t have said that.

The younger tried to take a deep breath and calm down. He knows that it wasn’t the same. That Raph did that to save them, not to go do parkour, and the idea of any of the others dying made him feel sick. But he couldn’t hear his brother talk about taking risks without having his mind go white with images of him running to save someone’s life at the cost of his own. But still...

Great now he felt guilty.

“Mikey...”  

“I’m sorry. I should have said that. You’re right, I won’t do that again. I mean it.” Mikey looked down and wrapped his arms around himself.  

It wasn’t too surprising when Raph hugged him. They both clearly need it. Mikey just hugged back.

“Thanks for apologizing.” Raph said after a moment. “I forgive you, and I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have been so mad. You should be able to be alone sometimes. We can talk about that later, and I promise that I’ll try to be less overprotective.”

“Thanks,” Mikey said, tightening the hug.

He wasn’t going to ask for Raph to be less reckless. If any of them were in danger, Raph would do anything to save them. I wasn’t fair to have him make a promise that he could never keep. But they could talk about that later, when they were less tired and more reasonable. For right now they just hugged.

​

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Ao3 link: Here

Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge. And take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge for other submissions from other fans

Rise April Challenge: Day 9 Style

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Ao3 Link: Here

Casey is very clearly nervous as he follows Leo around the dark shopping mall. Leo feels a good amount of sympathy for the kid, as he did come from an ending world full of danger. The kid defiantly has a strong case of PTSD, so the slidder doesn’t mention the way he’s gripping his chainsaw like a lifeline, or how his head has not stopped swiveling around looking for something coming to attack him.

“Do we really need to do this?” Leo rolled his eyes.

“Dude, you’ve been wearing mine and Donnie’s clothes for months now. You need some of your own.”

“Yeah, but..” Casey’s eyes roamed over the clothing racks and mannequins that Leo would admit did look spooky in the dark shadows cast by their flashlights.  

Leo finally stopped and began to ruffle through some shirts. What would look good on the kid? Black looks good on almost anyone, but he kind of wanted to put him in brighter colors too. Light blues and reds could work if paired with some more grounded colors.

“Anything specific you want kid?” He called out.  

“Um...” The kid's eyes wandered helplessly over the rows of clothes.  

“Guess we'll have to try all of them then.” Leo smirked

-

“Hmm... not bad. Give us a twirl.

“It’s a little tight in the back.”

“All the better to show off what you’ve got to the ladies. Or dudes if they’re your thing.”

“...What am I showing off?”

“Never mind.”  

-

“...”

“What?”

“...”  

“What?!”

“That’s not where your head goes.”

“It’s not my fault this thing has so many holes!”

“It’s also backwards.”

“IT’S CONFUSING!”

-

“Oh yes! You’ll be turning head’s left and right, king!”

“I don’t know what that means but thank you?”

-

“No, absolutely not.”

“But Master Leonardo-”

“I’m not getting you a lime green shirt!”

-

Leo got him the lime green shirt.

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Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge. And take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge for more submissions. Please give feedback if I need to work on something.

Rise April Challenge: Day 8 Boom

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Donnie groaned as he woke up, head pounding. His mind was already moving through the motions of waking up and starting his day (and/or afternoon.) But his train of half thought was derailed by the weight of his battle shell that was still on his back.

He never slept with his battle shell. Leo would have chewed him out for months if he did, Donnie knew better than to challenge him on that front. Which meant that something was very wrong.

Donnie opened his eyes to find himself lying on his side, on a cold concrete floor. The room he was in was huge and empty, a warehouse of some kind. Moonlight was the only source of light, cast in from the small windows high up on the walls. As his eyes squinted, trying to make out the shapes in the dark, he just managed to see that the walls were inscribed with graffiti. Which wouldn’t have been unusual, this was New York, except for the fact it was all the same piece of art. A large explosion with the word ‘BOOM’ splashed across it. Donnie looked out over the room with growing confusion as he saw it repeated over and over on the walls, some clustered so close to each other that they overlapped and covered one another, while in other places there would be yards that were completely bare. What was happening?

Don leaned down and attempted to bring up his comm to try and reach his brothers. But when he did the screen flashed with two words that made the turtle grit his teeth: 'No Signal.' That wasn't something that happened to Don's tech. Which meant one thing, something was jamming his comms.

Donnie sighed, stood up, and took a step forward. Only to feel his toes just brush on something plastic. He froze and leaned over to see the faintest of discoloration of something close to his foot. He bent down and pulled on his goggles to see it better. It was a flat circle, plastic from what he could see. At first Donnie was confused at what he was looking at exactly, and then the horrible, fearful, realization dawned on him.

It was a landmine.

His foot was centimeters away from activating it, if he had longer legs or had leaned forward even a little further it would have exploded under him. His mind ran with images of what would have happened if it was just an inch closer. Donnie thought of taking a slow step back from the thing, when another thought occurred to him. He raised his head slowly and looked out at the rest of the floor and grew even stiffer. The whole floor was covered in mines. Like the graffiti, the small disks were spread out without any order to them, clustered or sparsely scattered all over. And Donnie didn’t have his jetpack shell!

Damit! The only good thing he could see was a door on the opposite wall from him. It wasn't an impossible distance. He just needed to...

Ok. Ok. He could do this. Donnie slid his left foot to the side and took a slow step forward with his right. He scanned the floor and picked it up right to move it to the next safe spot. Easy.

It was slow going, the mines were hard to see in the dark even with his goggles. They were painted the same color as the floor, and it was only using his glass's ability to detect them and put a glowing indicator over them that Donnie was able to move through them. It also didn’t help that he sometimes had to backtrack to avoid a dead end or a section that he could tell that he wouldn’t be able to move through.

Why were these even here? Had someone built them to try and trap him or did they have another use?

Donnie was so close to the door now, only a few feet away. The mines had grown in number, and he had to stretch to reach new safe areas. So close, so close. He had just placed his right foot when his headset let out a loud warning beep and he froze. His weight delicately held in place by one crocked foot while the other just barely touched the floor in front of him. He tipped forward, shifted his weight and yanked himself towards the new safe zone and waited.

Nothing happened.

Donnie let out a deep breath and looked at the alert that just disturbed him. It was a huge number of markers, right in front of where he was standing, huddled close together in a semi-circle around the door. 4 rows, and no space between them to step.

He felt himself start scratching his arm, his short nails leaving thin white lines on his skin. The door was right there, he couldn’t just stay here. He needed to jump for it.

No. No. That was a stupid plan, there was too much risk. Could he even leap that far? And even if he could-

He had to.

Donnie spread his feet as far as he could and squatted. He shook his hands and tried very hard not to think about what he was doing.

He jumped.

He didn’t shut his eyes, he needed to see where he was going.

Donnie’s feet hit hard. There was one split second where he was sure he was going to fall; he could feel his feet twist to keep up with the shifting momentum, and he was almost certain that they were about to slide out from under him.

He didn’t fall.

He had made it. He smiled and faced the door. Whatever trap this maniac had set up had failed. He was home free.

This was too easy.

He pushed the door and smiled at the cold night air.

Snap!

Beep.

Donnie froze and looked down at the trip wire that had been snaped by the door’s swing.

Beep.

He traced it to the wall of the building.

Beep.

He stared at a mass of wires, taped to the side of the warehouse.

Beep.

Shit.

Donnie ran.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

BOOM!

There was no slow, epic, walkaway. No bright orange flashy lights. The boom was set off with waves of compressed air and noises so loud that Donnie’s ears rang. The heat was consuming and the softshell fell forward after the first wave. He scrambled to his feet and kept running.

He could stop, he had to keep moving, because-

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Donnie heard the mines inside going off and focused on keeping himself going. He ran and darted down alleyways and around corners. Finally, stopping when the light of the fires could no longer be seen. He leaned against a trash can and tried to slow his breathing.

His comm crackled to life. Raph’s worried and gruff voice barely reaching him through the ringing in his ears.

“Don! Don! Are you there? Donnie, can you hear me?!” Donnie lifted the comm to his mouth and responded.

“I’m here. I’m ok.”

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Ao3 Link: Here

Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge. And take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see other submissions. Please give feedback if I need to work on something.

Rise April Challenge: Master Post

Ao3 Link, if you would like: Here

April O’Neil - April meets a strange turtle. Turtle Tots, Fluff,

Competiton - Leo won’t listen to his twin, not even when he is hurt. Hurt/Comfort, Disaster Twins,

Casey & Casey Jr - A mother and a son meet for the first time. Angst, Hurt/Comfort, !TW!

Dream - Raph goes savage if he is under a lot of stress, and he always worries about hurting someone. His brothers know he won’t. Angst, Fluff,

Bottle - Donnie is not having a good time. Autistic Overload, Angst, !TW!

Professor - Skipped

Nonsense - Mikey has a concussion, Leo helps him. Fluffy, Weird, Hurt/Comfort, 

Boom - Donnie finds himself in a minefield. Angst, Tension,

Style - Leo takes Casey Jr shopping for new clothes. Fluff,

Reckless - Mikey sneaks out and Raph finds out. Angst, Fighting, !TW!

 Hope - Skipped

 Family - Skipped

 Umbrella - Boys have fun in a storm. Fluff

 Spar - Mikey finds a way to make sparring fun for Donnie. Fluff,

 Buddies - Buddy the Paper Ninja learns more about his friends. Kinda Angst, Fluff,

 Mask - The boys are acting weird; April finds out why. Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, 

 Cosplay - Skipped

 Sleep - Leo tries to fall asleep. 

 Baby - Mikey becomes the older brother for a day. Fluff, De-ageing,

 Chaos - Raph is sick, and something is going on with the others. Sickfic, Fluff, Attempt at Crack,

 Jokes - 4 times Leo told Casey Jr a joke, and 1 time he returned the favor. Fluff, Humor, Puns

 Father - Splinter realizes he's a father, it brings back bad memories and sends him into a dark place. Angst,

 Spooky - A random stranger gets the scare of his life when he sneaks into the sewars. 

 Rebirth -  Leo reflects on something that happened in the prison dimension. Angst

Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see more submissions by other fans. 

@nickelodeon Bring Back Rise

Rise April Art Challenge: Day 7 Nonsense

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Ao3 link: here

(I was sick yesterday, so I had to skip that day’s prompt. I might try again at the end of the month. Please enjoy.)

The sound of fake lasers and explosions are just barely audible from Leo’s spot on the couch. It’s late and he doesn’t want to keep anyone up with the sounds of Jupiter Jim’s saving the world. Besides he’s watched this movie so many times he can resight it by heart.

It’s just getting into another of the long action seance since when his phone’s alarm starts blaring. Leo feels himself slip into doctor mode the second he hears it. The slider stands, shutting off the alarm, and heading to Mikey’s room.

His littlest brother, for all his claims that he can take care of himself, had decided to razzmatazz a little too hard and had ended up with a concussion. Leo had taken on the responsibility of waking the little orange one up every few hours. His insomnia was acting up again anyways, so it wasn’t so bad.

Entering the room, Leo blinked when he saw the empty bed. There was a moment of panic, before he turned and saw him on the other side of the room staring at the wall above his bed. It, like the rest of the room, was covered in bright colors and paint. But there was nothing more than that. Leo walked over to his brother and squatted next to him.

“Hey, bud. What you doing?” Mikey turned to him; eyes unfocused but with a soft smile.

“I’m tracking the goldfish.” He slurred. Leo blinked. Ok, that wasn’t great.

“Ok... I’m going to ask you some questions, alrighty?” Mikey nodded. “Ok, what year is it?” His little brother paused for a moment, then turned to Leo with absolute confidence and said:

“The one that’s bee like, but without the pink sickness.” There was silence, then...

“Oh, boy Mike. This is worse than I thought.” Mikey blinked and stared at his brother before continuing with his concussed rambling.  

“Do you think that you can see lines that have never been there? Or will never be?” Yeah, Leo needs to stay with Mikey till the others wake up.

“I don’t know.” Leo answers, deciding that he can deal with a little nonsense while he waits for everyone to wake up.  

“I don’t think I can. But Donnie can see jumps even when nothing moves so maybe we can if we look the right way.” Leo just nods and leans against the wall.

The next few hours are filled with Mikey talking about a whole range of topics. Some of which Leo can’t understand even a little, things like: bell heads, blanket laws, the power of purple elephants. But some of the things that are mentioned are worrying. Like when he says that Leo should never ever be called Green, with a look of such fear and grief on his face. Or when he whippers that he doesn’t want to crack into dust. It thankfully doesn’t last long, because he’s always running off on another tangent by the time Leo is trying to sort out what is being said.  

In a few hours the rest of the family will be up to help, and in a few days, Mike will be right as rain and when Leo brings up what he said the younger will just be confused and say that he can’t remember saying anything like that. After that, it will fade from their memories and will never be thought of again.

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Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge. And take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge for other submissions. Please give feedback if I need to work on something.

Rise April Art Challange 5: Bottle

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!TW!  Autistic Overload, Small spaces and mention of drowning !TW!

(Not super proud of this one but whatever.)

Donnie's body is burning.  

He paces across his room on a familiar path, one he knows well. Shifting his speed from a hobble to a sprint at random intervals. His hands routinely rase to try and shake themselves out but they fall back down before they can do anything. He can feel his neurons sparking and buzzing like a live wire across his whole body, lighting up his muscles and bones. Everything inside of him is lost in the need to move, make, act, run, think, jump, swing, build, analyze, DO! And he would gladly do as it asks, but he's so tired.  

He feels like he's going to keel over at any moment. He can't keep his hands steady; his sight keeps going in and out of focus and he can barely keep a line of thought going. He's not going to be able to do anything like this. But the rest of him doesn't care, it needs. Needs to stretch, create, learn, know, strike- STOP! The two forces feel like they're tearing him up apart at the seams, each thread snaping and sending hot shivers up and down his body, and he has no hope of keeping up with it. Donnie is burning with black, lifeless energy, and he feels like he is just going to disintegrate into ash.  

Donnie stops mid sprint, the wall of his room inches away from his nose. He stops himself from turning around and beginning the next round of his pacing. He just needs to slow down. Just for a minute. Just one minute of nothing, so his body can rest. Then he can do... whatever he wants to do. But he needs a moment of nothing.

Donnie sits down with his back to the wall and closes his eyes.  

He can do this; he can do this.  

His hands twitch, wanting to hold and move something. He bounces his leg instead.

He cand do this, he can do this.

Don starts pulling up memories and old thoughts, distracting his mind with the bouncing of his leg.  

He can do this, he can.

He shuffles through his mind until he comes to a picture of a green glass bottle.

He can do this.

The soft-shell isn't sure where the bottle is from. Maybe it's from a long-forgotten memory, or an old dream, or maybe just from his imagination. Regardless, he laches on to it and pulls it to the forefront of his focus, pushing all his desire for action onto it and narrowing his endless burning into a single point on the non-existent glass.  

He can do this.

Donnie tries to calculate how tall the bottle is, how wide, how thick the glass is, and how much water it could hold. He moves on to what exact color the glass is. (Bottle green of course.) How it would feel in his hand, (smooth and solid.) What sound it would make if he were to tap it. (A ding if he tapped while he was holding it, a clang if he dropped it.) What would his room look like if he were to look at it through the thick tinted glass. (The colors would be so muted by the dark green, the perspective so warped by the curve of the bottle.)

(He sees himself inside the bottle, sitting and bouncing his leg up and down so fast it's just a blur.) (He reaches up and slides his hand across the 'cold' surface. The low temperature shocked his hand out of its trembling.)

The burning is slowing, ever so slightly.

(The thrumming of the air-conditioner in his room is muffled by the glass. The sound of Donnie's breath echoes back at him from all angles.)

The feeling is still too loud, too big, too fast, too much, too much.  

He just needs it to be softer, a little farther away, just less.

(He feels the cold trickle of water running down the sides of the bottle and towards the bottom. It grounds him and soothes his acing body. It runs over his shoulder and begins to fill the space around him. A pool soon forms around him, calming and swirling, it dulls the burn to a slight sting wherever it touches. He leans his head back, to let the water run over his forehead and down. The water soon rises until it's just a few inches above his head. He sits on the floor of the bottle, surrounded by cold and still calm. The burn in his veins tries to fight the feeling. Tries to urge him to move, to reject the feeling of rest and do something. Donnie doesn't listen. The feeling is already dying, pushed back by soothing cold. He feels the water flow inside of him, spreading its restful numbness and quite peace into the very core of himself. He allows it, he lets himself farther down into the bottle and just rests. He blows out a few bubbles and watches them float to the top.)

(Donnie let's himself become lost in the nothingness of the water. Donnie let's consume him, just for right now. Donnie lets himself drown.)

Don gets up after a few minutes and falls into bed to sleep. In the morning the need to do it is back, but it is no longer eating him alive. It doesn't burn.

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Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge. Also take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge for more submissions. Please give feedback if I need to work on something.

Rise April Challenge: Day 4 Dream

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Ao3 Link: Here

(Kinda streched the prompt a little, but I like it. There is some bad grammer but it’s on purpose.)

Raph knew it was coming, even before the jittering and zoning out started. There was only so many life-and-death situations his brain could take before it decided to take a vacation and leave him behind. But it was only when he woke up to find himself not in his bed, but standing upright in the middle of the lair, that he realized how bad this was going to be. So, knowing he had very little time, Raph began to prepare.  

The whole lair was raided for blankets, pillows, and cushions to add to Raph’s ever growing pillow fort in his room. (It’s not a nest, not a nest, not a nest. Even if he stole sheets from his brothers’ rooms so it would smell familiar. It’s not a nest.) The kitchen is emptied of snacks and water bottles. He moves every single one of his teddy bears into the fluffy pile and he sets up a speaker to play the sound of running water. He moves the more important or breakable items on to higher shelves, or out of the room all together. He’s already. Now comes the embarrassing part.  

He decides that Donnie is the best one to tell. He won’t stress about it too much and will be able to talk the others down if they start panicking. Still, Raph sifts nervosity as he stands outside Don’s lab. He shakes his hands out and breathes as deep as he can. He can do this. He can do this. The snapper knocks on the door.

“Come in!” Donnie calls and Raph crouches through the door and into the dim lab. He crinkles his nose at the smell of metal and oil, and he squints at the weird light. The purple light always made it look both too bright and too dark. Don loved it, but it always confused Raph even on a good day. Which today defiantly wasn’t.

Donnie was hunched over one of the worktables with one of his battle shells, his arms half buried inside an open panel. He didn’t look up as the Raph got closer.

“Uh... Hey Donnie? Can... um... we talk really fast?” The genies looked up from what he was doing, goggle lenses glinting.  

“Of course, large compatriot. What’s up?”

“Uh...” Oh man this was not fun. “So, I’m not really going to be around for a bit.” One of Don’s robot arms pushed up his glasses so he could give Raph a worried look. “Not literally. I’m not going anywhere. And it's nothing bad! Raph promises. But I think I’m just going to go a little... weird? Soon.”

“You’re going savage.” Raph winces at the word. It is accurate, but it still makes him uncomfortable. It always makes him think that he could hurt someone.

“Yeah.” He nods.

“Do you need anything?” Raph waves his hand.

“Nope, I got everything set up.” He’s quite proud of himself for that. “But could you or someone just check in to make sure I didn’t do something...”

“Of course.” Donnie says

“Great. The key is hung up next to the door.” Raph moves to the door, but his brother’s voice stops him.   “You’re locking yourself in?” It’s so much softer than what he’s come to expect from his standoffish sibling. Raph’s shoulders raise straight up, and he freezes.

“Uh.... yeah. I’ve been sleep walking and I don’t want to wander off.” It feels like a confection.  

“Are you sure?”

No. He isn’t. The idea of not being able to get to his brothers is awful, and being trapped alone is way worse. But he can’t just go walking into the sewars. (A small part of him worries about more than just him getting lost. He worries about blood splashing across his face. He worries about bones in his mouth. He worries about dead brothers.)

“Yeah, I’m sure. It’s fine, Don.” Raph leaves the lab and hurries to his room.

-

Raph is warm and soft. He is safe and good. He cuffs at the thought and tries to sink deeper into the warm-soft-nice. This is good. He should sleep.

He smells something... important. Something that is also good. Raph snuffles around till he finds where it’s coming from. A thick blanket. He covers his face with it so he can smell it better.  

It smells twirling-acrylic-orange. Mikey. Mikey is good, very good.

Where is Mikey?

Raph lifted his head and pushed back the blanket to look around for his littlest brother. (Not so little anymore, but never as big as Raph. No, never. He never needs to be as big as Raph.) Mikey wasn’t there. None of his brothers were. That was bad. Bad bad bad. Raph needs to get them, to share this soft-warm-safe feeling with them and so they could all sleep.  

He gets to his feet and wanders to the door. He tries to shove it open; it doesn’t give. He grunts and pushes again. Not good, not, not, not, not, not. He wines thinks about breaking it down. He needs his brothers. But it seems like so much work and his brothers are safe. He knows that he just... wants them to be safe here. Is that too much to ask?

He returns to his nest and flops down onto his stomach. It’s not as good anymore.

-

Raph wakes up to something squirming against his side, and hushed words that are hard to understand. He cracks his eyes open and finds a familiar shell lying across the edge of the blanket.

The shell looks like flowing-glimmering-blue. Leo. He looks to his right and finds Mikey leaning on him and drawing in his sketch book, while talking with Leo. Two brothers, it makes him well up with yes-yes-yes-good feelings but where is- 

A voice cuts through his thoughts. It’s shifting-sparking-purple. He turns to Donnie who is sitting on his left with his tablet in his lap looking at Raph questioning. Did he ask Raph something? The snapper lets out a little grumble to ask what Don needs. Words are too hard right now.

Donnie reaches over and offers the eldest a water bottle. Oh, yeah Raph needs that. He rolls to his side disturbing Mike who yelps at the unexpected movement, he takes the water and drinks it. It tastes so good! Should water have a taste?  

He hands the bottle back to Donnie and looks over everyone. Safe. They are safe and good, and they’re here which is so much more good.  

Raph’s mind is worried about them being here. It says that they are not safe if they’re here. That them being here is bad. But that doesn’t make since Raph is here. And Raph can protect them. Even better than that, even if Raph can’t keep them safe, they can keep each other safe. Leo is strong and Donnie is smart and Mikey is kind. They’re so good that they could keep him safe if he needs it.  

(He won’t though, because he’s big and they’re little. No matter how big they are or how strong, they will always be his little ones. His. His. His little ones! He loves them, loves them, loves them-!)

Raph’s mind slips into the haze of pride-love for his brothers, drowning the worry. He lets Mike lean against his chest so he can draw and throws an arm over Leo’s back so he can feel him. He wants to tough Don too, but he knows that tough can be bad for his little brother, so he holds back. Raph can hear him tapping on his tablet anyways.  

He closes his eyes and just lets the overwhelming feelings wash over him but doesn’t go back to sleep. He doesn’t need to. He has his family all around him, safe and good. He doesn’t need to fight or run or even understand what is being said, he can just be. It’s the greatest dream Raph could ever have, and he doesn’t want to miss a second.

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Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge.  Also take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge​ for more submissions. Please give feedback if I need to work on something.

Rise April Challange Day 3: Casey And Casey Jr

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Ao3 Link: here

!TW! Talk of Grief and Loss !TW!

Casey Jones doesn’t remember his mother well. He doesn’t mind too much; he’s lost so many people over his short life. Everyone in the future had, and he's still trying to get used to the idea that isn't normal here. So, he's kind of grateful that he only has vague and blurry memories of her. It means that he doesn’t have much to grieve for.  

He knows that’s shitty to say, but he thinks in his circumstances it’s fair. He’s lost so many people, he’s lost everyone, his whole world. Yeah, it was shitty, coated in blood, grime, and krang flesh. But it was his. He was born into it, it helped make him, and it held everything he had ever loved.  

Master Michelangelo, with his flowing movements and soft sparking magic lifting him high enough to see the world bathed in unworldly light and color that only the two of them could see.  

Commander O’Neil, hugging him with scared arms with a quite “Try to keep up, Jr.” Diving into battle, smiling with bloody teeth as she tore apart burning metal machine.  

The quiet and lonely shrine with a huge, spiked shell that hung on the wall with a pair of cracked purple goggles with red and blue lenses on the table below. Where his family always gathered before a mission, just sitting and holding each other, with hushed ‘I love you’s and ‘be safe’s on their tongues.  

And of course, Master Leonardo. Who had tried so hard to be a father to him, even though he was fighting a war that he knew he was losing, even as he held the lives of everyone on his shoulders. He had tried so hard to be a father that he always said Casey deserved.  

He had lost all of them.  

So... yeah. Casey was grateful that he didn’t have another person to morn.  

But... his mom was here. Alive. And he had to keep himself from panicking because he had time to figure out what to say when you're meeting a version of a mother you had never really known. He thought he had time. He didn’t.

-

Casey Jr sits ramrod straight on his spot on the couch, across from the intimating woman across from him. His mom (mom, mom, MOM!) Stares across from her with sharp eyes and narrowed in what looks like anger, and Casey's mind is very split on this.  

One half of his brain is just screaming that she’s here and alive and real! Not just a story, or a memory that he isn’t totally sure he didn’t just make up. She’s really sitting across from him, and he can see his eyes and hair on her face. And somehow this is the most earth-shattering thing that has happened to him. Or at least the only part of this disaster that he can process.  

The other half of him is trying to decide what should happen now, what he should do or say. He isn’t given the chance to figure out because she speaks first and Casey Jones the Second hears the first words he ever heard his mother say.  

“Do I need to start a collage fund?”  

It’s... it’s absurd, and out of nowhere, and said with such seriousness that it makes Casey break down into laughter that shakes his whole body. He bows over trying to get enough air into his lungs because this is so stupid and chaotic and that probably (is) the best thing you could say in a situation like this. What is his life?  

“No-No!” He says between laughs. “I don’t think-” He breaks into more laughter. “I don’t think I need that.”  

He continues to laugh as she stands, hesitates and then marches to the seat next to him, sits down just as straight as Jr had a moment ago, and stiffly hugs him to her side. He wheezes through his laughter.  

“What-what are you doing?” Casey manages to hiss out.  

“I have been told that mothers are meant to comfort their children when they are crying.”  

Crying? Was he- Oh... yes, he was. At some point his laughs had begun to turn into sobs, and tears had leaked down his face. Everything had just hit him all at once, and he just... couldn’t anymore. He leans down and wipes his nose and eyes, and just breathes.  

“Sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”  

“It’s alright.” Cassandra (Mom? Casey Sr?) responds, still holding his shoulder.  

It takes a miniate before either of them can do anything other than look over each other, looking over every similarity and difference. Then Mom (Cassandra?) meets his eyes and with a stone face asks what Casey thinks she’s been wanting to since she saw him.  

“Can you tell me how I die?” The time traveler looks away.  

“What makes you think you did?” He doesn’t think he can look at her right now.  

“Because I would not be so foolish or weak as to let my son travel through time!” She says it like he just insulted her, and he wants to argue but...  

“Infection.” He answers. “Which is impressive considering that when you were found you had one arm missing and had been impaled at least 5 times. You lasted about a week after that.” It’s easier to say than he likes. There is silence. Then:  

“I am... happy that I did not abandon you.” He turns to his mom, and she doesn’t look at him, staring past him and he makes a realization. That this whole conversation is as hard and awkward for her as it is for him, and he doesn’t know why it took him so long to realize that. Hell, they're almost the same age! He smiles and faces her completely, pulling on the quiet patience of Master Leonardo.

“I know that this is insane, and neither of us had time to really think about it. But if it helps, I don’t think we need to decide what or how we feel right now.” She pulls a face at the talk of “feelings,” but does relax slightly.  

“Very well. Until we become comfortable with the reality of this situation. Would you be amenable to the title of my brother? I... am uncertain of being refired to as a mother.” Brother? That could work. Casey grips Cassandra’s hand.   Yes, it's Cassandra for now. Maybe for forever, but that would be ok too.

“Sounds good.” 

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Please check out @zee-rambles as the one who came up with this challenge. Also take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge​ for more submissions. Please give feedback if I need to work on something.

Rise April Challenge Day 2: Competition

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Ao3 Link: here

When they had been younger, Donnie and Leo had begun to wonder which of them was the older. All the brothers knew that Raph was the oldest and Micky was the youngest, but as for the middle two there was never a real answer. When this had come to the children’s attention, they had done what any child would do when they had a question. They asked their father. It wasn’t all that helpful.

“Neither.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN NEITHER?!” Leo shouted, “One of us had to have been born first!” Splinter shrugged.

“You are twins. Twins are born at the same time.”

“But that’s not fair!”

“Yeah!” Donnie agreed, “I have to be older, so I can tell him what to do.” Leo growled and glared at his brother, looking just about ready to tackle him. Splinter sighed; this was going nowhere. It’s time for a new tactic.

“Very well. We will try something...”

Thus, the Competition was born.

-

The exact game or challenge was never the same, but the bet always was the same: Winner got big brother rights over the other for a day. When they were younger it was simpler things like a race or a guessing game. But as they got older, they got sneakier and more vicious. So, the competition had to get more complicated, the rules more specific, and inevitably more dangerous. The last straw had been when Splinter had walked in on Leo balancing on a tightrope, holding several lit candles. While Donnie watched on, peeling candle wax off his arms from his attempt. After that the Competition was borderline banned unless they were given express permission.

After a while it faded into childhood memories, a funny story to remember on family game nights. Until now.

-

“Donnie I am fine.”  

“No, Leo, you are not. Did you not hear me? Your ribs are bruised, your left wrist is fractured, your right shoulder was dislocated, and that’s not even the half of it!”

“I'll just walk it off.”

“...Walk it off? Walk it off! YOU CAN BARLY EVEN STAND!” Why did Leo always have to make this so difficult? The blue turtle rolled his eyes and leaned more on to the kitchen island.

“Listen Dontron. I'm just making myself breakfast, it's not like I'm going on a hike, or training. It’s not that big a deal.” Donnie clenched his teeth and balled his hands into fists.  

Stupid dum-dum, so stupid all the time, why was it always-  

He took a slow breath and closed his eyes. It was pointless. Leo got into this mindset sometimes, one that made the thought of getting any form of help itchy and painful. It was worse when he was sick or in pain or had gotten too into his own head. But it had been a while since any of the brothers had to deal with it. Normally Dr. Feelings would help, sit down and talk to the slider into whatever he needed. But Micky wasn’t here right now, and Donnie didn’t have the time or the patience to try. That left only one option. He didn’t want to half to use this card, but it was the only way Leo would listen. Donnie opened his eyes and glared at Leo.

“I declare a Competition.”

Leo’s eyebrows shot up, then furrowed.  

“...What?” The slider asked,

“You heard me.” Donnie crossed his arms.

“Don, we haven’t done that in years. Besides dad will flip if he finds out.”

“Are you backing down?” Donnie asked, and Leo glowered back. They both knew that backing down meant a forfeit, meaning an atomatic  win for Donnie. The only way out for his brother was to accept the challenge and win.  

“Fine. What’s the game?” Donnie smirked, perfect. He pointed across the kitchen to the door.  

“Walk through that door and back, without holding on to anything.”

Leo snarled at his brother in rage.

“Come on Donnie, play fair!” He snapped.

“If you can make yourself a meal, you can walk into the next room and back.” Donnie stood his ground.

Leo growled and glared at the counter he was leaning on in frustration. He then took a deep breath, let go, and began to move towards the door. He made it five slow, hobbling, stumbling steps before one of his legs gave out and he began to fall. He rolled to his side, trying to avoid putting his weight on his injured wrist only to slam his hurt shoulder instead. He hissed and rolled on to back and stared at the ceiling till Donnie’s face came into view.  

“I win.” Don deadpanned and bent to help his brother up.

“Cheater.” Leo hissed, but accepted the hand and pulled himself up, half collapsing on to his brother when he was upright. The genius shrugged, and supported the idiot as he carried him to the med bay.  

“Doesn’t matter, I’m still older.”

“Only for today.” Leon protested but followed without resistance.

“Well, as today’s big brother, I’m keeping you in bed. So your stupid body can heal itself.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever, I’ll get you next time.”

“Keep dreaming, little brother. Keep dreaming.”  

It was hours later, as Donnie typed on his tablet and Leo watched some videos on his phone, that the slider managed to get out of his head enough to turn to his brother and whisper a quite: “Thank you.”

Donnie pretended not to hear, but quietly reached up and rubbed his brother’s head.

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Rise April Challenge Day 1: April O’Neil

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Ao3 link: here

Today, April had learned something very important, something that she was quite mad at her mom for not telling her. And that was that people were overrated and mean. They weren’t worth her time, and she was never going to talk to one again. Screw those stupid cartoons, the power of friendship was dumb, and she didn’t need it!

The first day of school had not been fun for April O’Neil. Turns out, that kids can be cruel and will easily turn on someone that is even slightly different.  

She laid down on the grass under an old tree and watched the other kids run around the jungle gym with narrow eyes.

She was mad, enraged even, and if her mom thought that a trip to the park would cheer her up then April would prove her wrong. This was not the type of mad that went away with swings and ice cream. This was a life changing type of mad, the kind that made people wear black and laugh evilly. Yes, this was a supervillain mad. And April didn’t think she would mind being a bad guy, they were cool, and they didn’t need any friends.

They didn’t get lonely.  

She wasn’t lonely. She was mad. She was mad. So mad that there was no room to be lonely. She-

Something fell out of the sky inches away from April’s nose. She jumped and scrambled back, fear and shock playing across her face. The thing lay unmoving on the ground as she tried to catch her breath. April looked up into the tree above to see where it had fallen from, but nothing was there. She looked back at it on the ground, and after a moment bent over to pick it up.

It was only about the size of her fist, round and purple, cold and smooth in her hand, and she turned it around. No markings or anything. Was it an egg? Could there be purple eggs? She put it near her ear and shook it. Nothing. April put it back on the ground and stared at it. What were you meant to do when things fell from the sky? Should she just leave it? Tell someone? Call 911? Did this happen a lot?

The egg-thing had apparently gotten tired of waiting for April to do something, and she watched as it sprouted legs. It was so sudden that it took April a few seconds to realize what had happened, she blinked down at its four limbs folding out of its body. Then the thing bolted away from her, towards the bushes that bordered the park.  

“Hey!” She sprinted after it, “Come back!”

It was fast, scurrying across the ground like a spider. Dodging and weaving its way around rocks and sticks. It was too far for her to reach, and it was about to disappear into the scrubs, never to be found again. But she was April O’Neil, and it would not get away that easily. She flung herself forward, arms outstretched, and eyes shut tight as she dove into the bush. Her knees scraped against the ground as she slid, and the branches scraped and caught on her clothes as she broke through the wall of leaves. But her hand had closed around the sphere. She had it.

“Ha!” she shouted “Got ya!” She opened her eyes and stopped when she saw two tennis shoes at her eye level. April looked up and met two wide black eyes, framed by square glasses.

“Uh...Hi?” April said. The masked kid jumped backward, stumbling away from her and falling onto his butt. “Hey! It’s ok, I was just chasing this thing.” She held up the purple sphere so he could see it. “It fell out of a tree and grew legs!”  

The boy did not respond, shrinking into his oversized hoodie, sleeves falling over his hands and the collar covering the bottom of his face. Silence stretched between them for a few seconds as April waited for the kid to talk. He didn’t.

“My name’s April, what’s yours?” Silence.

“Are you ok?” Nothing.

“Can you talk?” The boy shakily nodded. Well, that was a little better. She slowly sat up on to her knees, before looking at the other kid again. “Sorry it I sacred you, this thing was just super cool, and I didn’t want it to get away.” The boy uncurled slightly and leaned a little forward.

“You think it’s cool?” April blinked at the odd question but nodded.

“Yeah, it just fell out of a tree and grew legs all by itself!”

“Well not all by itself.” The boy reached into his jacket and pulled out a blocky remote control. He punched a few buttons and the thing in her hand wiggled out of her grip and ran toward the boy. April’s mouth dropped open.

“It’s a robot?” she asked, amazed.

“Yes,” the boy said sitting straighter and smiling proudly, “I made it.”

April’s eyes widened “Really?”

“But of course. I am testing out different joint attachments and its flexibility so it can climb and cling to different surfaces, that way-”

The boy sat up straighter as he talked, arms waving and gesturing to the bot as he talked. April smiled and listened. She decided that she liked this kid, he was weird. But in a cool way, and he was going to be her friend. But he had acted super jumpy before when she had tried to talk to him before, she would need to be sneaky.

The boy was lost in talking about wires and frequencies, legs kicking out in excitement. Perfect. April scooting closer, nodding and smiling even if he wasn’t really looking. Almost. Almost. He stopped talking when she shoved her hand in front of his face. He looked up at her, scrunching his eyes.  

“My name is April.” She said with a smug grin, happy to have managed to confuse him enough that he wouldn’t just run away.

“Yes, you said that already,” he responded dryly.  

“Yeah, but you need to tell me yours and shake my hand.”  

“Why?”

“Because.”

“That’s a stupid reason.” He turned his head away defiantly.

“Well, I can’t be your friend if I don’t know your name.” She said. The boy’s body stiffened, and he slowly turned towards her.

“You want to be friends with me?” he asked shakily. She smirked.

“You have to tell me your name first.” she demanded. He hesitated and squirmed, April stood still holding her breath. It was all or nothing now. The boy took a breath and locked eyes with her.

“You can’t take it back.” The boy declared.  

“Deal.” She reached to take his hand, but he pulled it back.

“And! You have to be my brothers’ friend too.” April shook her head. While more friends sounded exciting, she wasn’t going to just agree without meeting them. Kids could be mean after all.

“No, I haven’t met them. What if I don’t like them?” The boy paused to think.

“If you like them, then will you be their friend?” He asked. She nodded, that seemed fair. The boy reached out and took her hand. “I’m Donatello.”

April eyes widened as she staired down at her new friend’s green, three-fingered hand, and after a moment smiled at him.

This was going to be way more awesome than being a supervillain.

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Ao3 Link: Here

Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge.  Also take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge​ for more submissions. Please give feedback if I need to work on something.

Rise April Art Challenge day 3:

Casey and Casey Jr!

No finished art today, instead I’m posting some sketches and notes for an AU/personal iteration I’m working on! That’s probably not as interesting to anyone except me, but these are some behind the scenes stuff that I normally wouldn’t post if I didn’t have a challenge to complete. I have a mini comic in the works for day 2 that I’ll post whenever I decide to finish it up.

Rise April art challenge

Day 1: April O’Neil